NEW YORK • Her voice trembling, the witness, identified only as Camila, recalled on Tuesday the precise date that she was sexually abused by Keith Raniere, leader of a self-improvement company called NXIVM that prosecutors have described as a sex cult.

It was Sept 18, 2005, she said in her victim statement. She was 15, and he was 45. He insisted, she said, that they both recognise the date as their anniversary.

The relationship lasted 12 years, Camila said, with Raniere expecting her to be available for sex at all hours. He ordered her to weigh less than 45kg and directed her to get an abortion. She said she tried to kill herself once.

"I want to move on, but he has damaged me in so many ways," said Camila, who added that she was still having trouble figuring out the line between an abusive and a normal relationship.

Camila was the first of 15 victims who gave statements at Raniere's sentencing on Tuesday, where he was given 120 years, effectively life, in prison for sex trafficking and other crimes in a Brooklyn court.

Raniere, 60, had promised a path to happiness, seducing successful and wealthy people including those who felt they lacked a higher purpose in life. His company offered self-empowerment workshops that were taken by Hollywood celebrities and business leaders.

But underneath the surface, Raniere was a puppet master controlling a cult-like criminal enterprise, prosecutors revealed at his trial last year.

Some women in NXIVM were forced to have sex with Raniere and were even branded with his initials in a secret ceremony.

Camila's mother, brother and a sister also spoke on Tuesday, telling the judge that Raniere destroyed their once close-knit family. Raniere had a sexual relationship with all three sisters in the family.

Another victim, Ms India Oxenberg, told the court that Raniere tried to poison her relationship with her mother, actress Catherine Oxenberg, whose efforts to extricate her daughter from the organisation were part of a recent HBO documentary series about NXIVM, called The Vow.

Ms India Oxenberg said Raniere expected her to wait naked for him, like a piece of meat. She became so thin under his manipulation that she stopped getting her period, she said.

"You are a sexual predator, and you raped me," Ms India Oxenberg said. "When you touched me, I recoiled."

Raniere's conviction last year capped a stunning downfall for a man who was once idolised by his followers, but has since been exposed as a fraudster who exploited NXIVM's adherents for money, sex and power.

Former NXIVM members said Raniere and his inner circle preyed on insecure people who hoped that immersing themselves in expensive self-help classes would unlock the key to fulfilment.

During a videotaped initiation ceremony, the women lay naked on a table, saying, "Master, please brand me", as a cauterising pen seared their skin without anaesthesia.

A jury convicted Raniere in June last year after a six-week trial.

Prosecutors have said Raniere's unwillingness to accept responsibility and his contempt for his victims demonstrated that a life sentence was the only way to stop him from hurting more people.

To this day, Raniere has many supporters who believe he was wrongfully convicted.

In recent months, he has spearheaded a campaign to overturn his conviction. He has directed his supporters to create a podcast about his case and set up a contest to find errors in his prosecution in exchange for a US$25,000 (S$34,000) cash prize, court filings show.

Over 18,000 people have taken NXIVM's courses in the United States, Mexico and Canada since it was founded in 1998.

NYTIMES